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‘Scribbling Women’: Female Authorship of Inset Fiction

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Subscribing to Faith? The Anglican Parish Magazine 1859–1929

Part of the book series: Histories of the Sacred and Secular 1700–2000 ((HISASE))

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Abstract

As discussed in Chapter 5, towards the end of the nineteenth century there were a great many more male inset contributors than there were females. Needlework, cookery and children’s columns, and short poems used as fillers between longer articles, were typically the preserve of women, such contributions occupying a modicum of space, appearing and disappearing over the years, apparently at an editor’s whim. But women dominated the authorship of fictional narratives, which afforded them a much more significant presence. In 1896, for instance, they contributed 88 per cent of the total fiction in Home Words, The Church Monthly and Dawn of Day. From the inset’s earliest period, the ubiquitous serial story, frequently contributed by a woman, occupied about a third of available inset space. While there were few female contributors, their input was highly significant.

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Notes

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    Jane Platt

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© 2015 Jane Platt

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Platt, J. (2015). ‘Scribbling Women’: Female Authorship of Inset Fiction. In: Subscribing to Faith? The Anglican Parish Magazine 1859–1929. Histories of the Sacred and Secular 1700–2000. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137362445_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137362445_7

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57354-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-36244-5

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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